Illuminating device and reflector therefor



Oct. 3, 1939.

.1. .1. WOMPEY ILLUMINATING DEVICE AND REFLECTOR THEREFOR Filed July 25,1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY.

Oct. 3, 1939. J J WQMPEY I 2,175,072

' ILLUMINATING DEVICE AND REFLECTOR THEREFOR Filed July 25', 1936 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR' Jomv J Wfl/MPEY BY W/l/TL-HEAD g M064 &

ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 3, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ILLUMINATING DEVICEAND REFLECTOR THEREFOR 8 Claims.

This invention relates to illuminating devices, herein described asapplied to illuminated signs and the like.

An object of the invention is to produce more brilliant, more pleasingand new efiects on the illuminated surface by the use of a reflectorhaving a cross section composed of parabolic curves with the lightingelements adapted to be positioned at the foci of such parabolic curves.

A further object is to produce on such surface, illuminating effectsincluding the blending and variations in blending of various colorssuggesting or simulating kaleidoscopic or changing rainbow effects byuse of a generally parabolic reflector and a rotating illuminating unitincluding vari-colored elements and adapted by rotation to bringdifferent colored elements successively or alternately into focus withinthe reflector.

A further object is to provide such a device, including as theilluminating unit an. approximately circular series of illuminatingelements such as neon tubes which may be straight, spiral, or in othersuitable forms.

A further object is to provide a reflector which will effectivelyreflect the light from illuminated gas tubes such as neon tubes.

A further object is to provide, in such a device, a split focus ordouble focus parabolic reflector.

With these and other objects in view which will more fully appear from.the following specification, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, the invention comprises certain novel constructions,combinations and arrangements of 35 parts as will be hereinafter morefully described and claimed, and as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts throughout, and in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a signconstructed according to this invention, a portion of the sign facebeing cut away to disclose the lighting ele ment.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1 looking 45 in the direction ofthe arrows.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view on line 33 of Fig. '7 is a diagrammaticillustration of a reflector designed to focus on the rear tube of aseries for most effectively illuminating a comparatively low or narrowsign face.

I am aware that signs having characters 5 formed of or outlined in ajewelled, prismed, or other structures of glass, have been illuminatedby rotatable series of lighting elements in the rear of such face andthat reflectors have been placed in the rear of such lighting elements.

My invention resides in the provision of a new and improved reflectorfor such purpose and in the combined arrangement of such reflector andthe lighting elements and especially in the combination of suchreflector with lighting elements consisting of illuminated gas tubes.

The invention is adapted for use in various kinds of illumination aswell as for illuminated signs. Its first and perhaps most general usewill be in connection with illuminated signs and 20 the structure anduse will be herein described as applied to illuminated signs, but fromthis description its use and manner of use for other purposes will beobvious to those skilled in the art.

In constructing an illuminated sign for use of my invention therein, Iprovide a housing I with means such as grooves or troughs 2 for holdingany suitable sign face here illustrated as comprising an opaque screen 3having openings therein as indicated at 4, the openings being in theshape of the characters desired to be illuminated and exhibited, asillustrated by the letter N at the right at Fig. 1. A translucent plateor sheet 5, which may be of glass having a. ground, prismed, jewelled orother irregular or lightdiffusing surface or structure is positionedadjacent the screen 3 and, conveniently, behind the screen and in thegrooves 2, whereby the characters will appear to be formed of suchtranslucent material. The characters may be actually constructed of suchtranslucent material if desired, as by setting the translucent materialdirectly in the openings 4. However, the structure which I haveillustrated at Figs. 1 and 2 and above described will be found moreeconomical and convenient in most cases and will lend itself to agreater variety of changes in the sign face and illuminated effectsthereon. Many kinds of surfaces and structures of translucent materialare available, each of which will give a different or modified effectand, with my illustrated structure, they may be interchanged wheneverdesired, with the same or different screens. The combinations of colorsin the lighting elements as hereinafter described can also be varied asdesired, and by such changes in the screen, translucent material, andcolors of the lighting elements an almost infinite variety ofcombinations and modifications of illuminating effects may be obtained.

Revolubly mounted in the ends of the housing l, I provide a shaft iicarrying a plurality of members here shown as insulated discs I providedwith recesses 8 for the reception of lighting elements such as neontubes 9 whch may be straight as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 or in anyother desired form as, for example, spiral as illustrated at 9d at Fig.5. Suitable retainers it are provided to hold the tubes in recesses 8.It will be understood that the seating of the tubes in the recesses maybe done in any approved manner to provide against breakage or variationof position.

This may be accomplished by the use of rubber or other padding or by anyother suitable means, and no particular means are illustrated in thedrawings.

Any suitable method of connecting the tube 9 with the source of electriccurrent may be used, but I have illustrated one method comprising a discof insulating material ll carried by shaft 6 and in turn carryingring-shaped contacts l2 and I3. Resilient contact fingers M and it aremounted upon the end of the housing and. connected with the currentsource by wires H3 and i1, and mounting bolts i8 and 59, the fingers Mand I5 respectively contacting rings i2 and H3 at all times even duringthe rotation of disc II with the shaft 6. One of the tubes is connectedto ring 12 by lead 29 and bolt 2| and another tube is connected to ringit by lead 22 and bolt 23 and the tubes are suitably interconnectedaccording to common practice, as partially illustrated at 24, whereby toprovide a current running continuously through the series of tubes.

The shaft 6 is provided with any suitable means, not shown, for rotatingthe same.

The rear of housing I is adapted to be opened as by hinging the rearwall 25 as at 26 and providing a suitable friction catch as at 27,whereby the rear wall may be swung open and free access allowed to theinterior of housing I.

My improved reflector generally indicated at 28 resembles a trough, thecross section of which is a combination of parabolic curves, the troughbeing of length substantially equal to the length of the sign facewhich, in ordinary practice, will be substantially the same as thelength of tubes 9. The reflector 28 is carried by a supporting frame 29the bottom of which is adapted to rest on the bottom of housing 1 asclearly shown at Fig. 2, whereby the reflector may be suitablypositioned within the housing l or removed therefrom through the rearopening above described. When the reflector has been properly positionedwithin the housing so that it will be focused upon the lighting elementsin the manner hereinafter described, it is affixed in such position byany suitable means as by set screw 36 which clamps the bottom of frame25 to the bottom of housing i, whereby the inter-relative positions ofthe reflector and shaft 6 carrying the lighting elements, are fixed andmaintained.

The construction of my improved reflector and its coordination with thelighting elements is diagrammatically illustrated in Figs. 6 and '7.

As stated above, the reflector is generally trough-shaped and the crosssection of each side of. the trough is a parabolic curve. These curvesmay be upon a common axis and have a common vertex and this form will bemost effective with a lighting element of pin point or knife edge type,that is to say, a light-emitting element of no substantial area.

My invention is herein described in terms of a sign using neon tubes asthe lighting elements. The light-emitting element in this case is theilluminated gas within the tube and the width of the light-emittingelement is, therefore, generally speaking, the diameter of the interiorof the tube. The area of the lighting element therefore varies becauseneon tubes are of various diameters. Assume an inside diameter of a neontube to be one-quarter inch. In such case the lighting element isone-quarter inch in width and with such a tube as the lighting elementin a device constructed according to my invention, in order to obtainthe most efficient illumination I construct my reflector on twoparabolic curves having axes parallel but spaced apart onequarter of aninch so that when the tube is focused in the reflector the two axes willcoincide, respectively, with the top and bottom of the gas in the tube.

Applying this description to Figs. 6 and 7, V?

the circles 3!, 32, 33 and 34 indicate the illuminated gas in each ofthe four tubes arranged in generally circular series. Fig. 6 illustratesa reflector designed to illuminate a wide or high sign face, thereflector comprising two parabolic curves 28a and 281) with axesrespectively indicated at 35 and 36 and the focus of each curve being inthe forward tube 33 and these foci being respectively at the top andbottom of the gas in such tube, the foci being indicated at 33a and331), the lines 3'! indicating rays of light radiating from the focalpoints to the reflector and reflected therefrom in parallel lines.

The rays of light radiating from other portions of the gas indicated at33 and from the gas indicated at El 32 and 3a in Fig. 6 are not shownbut it will be obvious that such rays will be reflected at variousangles and will cross the radiated and reflected rays indicated by thelines 3i and that the rays reflected from the focal points will be thedominating rays on the illuminated surface and the color of the tube infocus will be the dominating color on the illuminated surface.

It will be understood that the various tubes will be of different colorsin such combinations as may be desired and it will be obvious that asthe tubes change their positions with the rotation of shaft 6 thedifferent tubes will come successively into focus and in each case thecolor of the tube in focus will be the dominating or prominent color onthe illuminated surface of the sign, and the light-diffusing surface orstructure of the translucent material 5 will transmit the variouscolored rays and diffuse and partially blend the same, producing aneffect suggestive of the rainbow but without any clear or definite lineof demarcation between the various colors.

As the series of tubes rotates with shaft 6 the color combinations,blendings and effects will constantly but gradually and smoothly changeand such change will be devoid of interruption or intermittence.

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic illustration of the reflector for illuminatinga comparatively low or narrow sign face. The diameter of the illuminatedgas in the tubes is illustrated as being the same as that illustrated inFig. 6 and therefore the axes 35 and 36 are the same. The paraboliccurves of the reflector, however, are different, and are indicated at28c and 28d, which results in bringing the focus on the illuminated gasindicated at 31, being that in the rear tube instead of the forward tube33 illustrated in Fig. 6. With these changes in structure in mind, thedescription of Fig. 7 will be the same as the foregoing description ofFig. 6, and it is therefore unnecessary to repeat the same.

The arrangement of the tubes in spiral as illustrated at Fig. 5 insteadof straight as illustrated at Fig. 3 does not require any change in theconstruction of the reflector nor of the other parts of the device,except the obvious adaptation of the discs I and the recesses 8 thereinto accommodate the change in shape of the tubes 9a.

It will be obvious that when the spiral tube is used only a smallportion of such tube is in focus at any particular time, but thedifferent portions of each tube will come into focus successively atdifferent points along the length of the reflector as the tube rotateswith shaft 6. The resulting effect on the sign face will be that ofmoving the dominating or prominent color from one end of the sign to theother. As the color of one tube moves along the face of the sign thenext tube in the series will come into focus and its color will be theprominent or predominating color at a given point on the face of thesign following the color of the first mentioned tube and so onthroughout the series. At each point on the face of the sign there willbe the predominating color of the tube which is in focus behind thatpoint and this will be combined with the other colors and blendings ofcolors and the resulting effect will simulate the movement of a rainbowlongitudinally along the face of the sign, it being understood that thevarious colors will be diffused and partially blended as hereinabovedescribed.

It will be further understood that the tubes may be constructed invarious forms as well as in the two forms hereinabove described and theeffects will be accordingly varied.

While I have described my invention as applied to the illumination ofsigns with the use of neon tubes for lighting elements, it will beunderstood that similar lighting effects may be produced on surfacesother than sign surfaces, and that my invention can be readily adaptedby means obvious to those skilled in the art, to a great variety ofuses.

A reflector having curves with coincident axes and vertices will producenew and pleasing effects even with neon tubes of substantial diameters,but the most effective and efficient reflector for use with such tubesis the reflector hereinabove described, comprising a combination ofparabolic curves with axes parallel but spaced apart so that the axeswill coincide with the extremities of illuminated gas within the tube.

I do not wish to be limited to the details of construction hereinabovedescribed nor to those illustrated in the drawing, as many variations inmatters of structure will occur to those skilled in the art but will bewithin the spirit of this invention and within the scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim 1. In an illuminating device, in combination, a trough-shapedreflector whose sides are of the same parabolic cross section butinterrelatively opposed and spaced apart and a rotatable membercomprising elongated light emitting units spaced from, parallel with androtatable about the axis of the member, said member being positioned tobring said units, successively during rotation of the member, into thefoci of said sides with the opposite surfaces of the unit respectivelycoincident with the foci of said two spaced sides.

2. An illuminating device comprising in combination, a trough-shapedreflector whose sides are of the same parabolic cross section butinterrelatively opposed and spaced apart and whose foci arecorrespondingly spaced apart and an elongated lighting element Whoselight emitting portion has substantial width, the opposite surfaces ofsaid light emitting portion being respectively coincident with thespaced foci of said two spaced sides.

3. An illuminating device comprising, in combination, a trough-shapedreflector whose sides are of the same but opposed parabolic crosssection and spaced apart and whose foci are correspondingly spaced apartand a luminous tube having the opposite surfaces of its light emittingportion respectively coincident with the spaced foci of said two spacedsides.

4. In an illuminating device, a plurality of light emitting elements insubstantially circular arrangement and adapted to be rotated around anaxis, each element having an elongated light emitting portion ofsubstantial width and a substantially trough-shaped reflector havingeach of its sides formed in parabolic cross-section with the axes of theparabolic curves parallel but spaced apart equal to the width of suchlight emitting portions, the foci of the curves being in a planeperpendicular to the two axes, said light emitting elements beingmounted at such position, relative to such reflector, that as said lightemitting elements are rotated about their axis the light emittingportion of each of said elements will successively come between the axesof the curves with the opposite lateral extremities of such portioncoincident with the foci of said curves.

5. In an illuminating device, a face having translucent, light diffusingcharacters, a substantially trough-shaped reflector behind said face,and having a generally parabolic cross-section and a plurality ofilluminated gas tubes arranged in substantially circular series adaptedto rotate around an axis between said face and said reflector andpositioned to bring said tubes into focus in said reflector successivelyduring such rotation.

67 In an illuminating device, a face having translucent, light diffusingcharacters, a substantially trough-shaped reflector behind said face,and having a generally parabolic cross-section and a plurality ofilluminated gas tubes arranged in substantially circular series adaptedto rotate around an axis between said face and said reflector andpositioned to bring said tubes into focus in said reflector successivelyduring such rotation, the sides of said reflector being positioned withthe axes of their parabolic curves parallel but spaced apart.

7. In an illuminating device, a face having translucent, light diffusingcharacters, a substantially trough-shaped reflector behind said face,and having a generally parabolic cross-section and a plurality ofilluminated gas tubes arranged in substantially circular series adaptedto rotate around an axis between said face and said reflector andpositioned to bring said tubes into focus in said reflector successivelyduring such rotation, the sides of said reflector being positioned withthe axes of their parabolic curves parallel but spaced apart equal tothe width of the illuminated gas within the tubes.

8. In an illuminating device, a face having into focus in said reflectorsuccessively during such rotation, the sides of said reflector beingpositioned with the axes of their parabolic curves parallel but spacedapart equal to the width of the illuminated gas within the tubes andtheir foci in a plane perpendicular to the axes of the 5 two paraboliccurves.

JOHN J. WOMPEY.

